Workstead

Origin

From work + stead. Cognate with German Werkstatt ("workshop"), Swedish verkstad ("workshop").

Full definition of workstead

Noun

1. Any place, such as a workshop, office, studio, or garage, set up where work can be performed; a workstation.
• 1888, Charles Montagu Doughty, Travels in Arabia Deserta:As we walked we saw white slags lying together; where perhaps had been the workstead of some ancient artificer.
• 1982, Personal computer:The factors to consider in establishing a computer workstead can be divided into two categories (or perhaps linked to a two-headed monster): the computer's turf and everything else about home-based business.
• 2010, S. M. Stirling, The Sword of the Lady:He could feel Edain turning like a hound at a scent as they went by a well-equipped bowyer′s workstead, with rows of recurves hanging to dry inside and billets of ashwood ready to be split and smoothed for arrow shafts.
2. A place of employment; workplace.
• 1997, Poul Anderson, All One Universe:With the growth of worldken, we began to learn, and today we have a beholding of stuff and work that watching bears out, both in the workstead and in daily life.
• 1999, Betty Neville Michelozzi, Coming Alive from Nine to Five:Today there is a trend back to the old workstead as technology can bring people within sight and sound of each other even though they are hundreds of miles apart.
3. A laboratory.